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Fortuna ( Latin : Fortūna , equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche ) is the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion who, largely thanks to the Late Antique author Boethius , remained popular through the Middle Ages until at least the Renaissance . The blindfolded depiction of her is still an important figure in many aspects of today's Italian culture, where the dichotomy fortuna / sfortuna (luck / unluck) plays a prominent role in everyday social life, also represented by the very common refrain "La [dea] fortuna è cieca" ( latin Fortuna caeca est ; "Luck [goddess] is blind").

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43-405: Fortuna is often depicted with a gubernaculum (ship's rudder), a ball or Rota Fortunae (wheel of fortune, first mentioned by Cicero ) and a cornucopia (horn of plenty). She might bring good or bad luck: she could be represented as veiled and blind, as in modern depictions of Lady Justice , except that Fortuna does not hold a balance. Fortuna came to represent life's capriciousness. She was also

86-547: A Castle Cary station in Somerset and the potential for confusion between the two. Previously a Castlecary railway station existed but it closed in 1967. It was the site of a major accident, the Castlecary Rail Disaster on 10 December 1937, when two trains collided with one another. The accident cost the lives of 35 people, with a further 179 injured. A memorial was installed in the memorial garden in

129-529: A cornu mouthpiece , a glass cup fragment, an iron claw hammer, a wooden spatula and two sculpted stones. One stone identifies the 'sixth cohort, the century of Antonius Aratus'. In the 21st century a treasure trove of a lion's head was discovered at Castlecary. The site in relation to the Red Burn , the Forth and Clyde Canal , the road, and the former railway station can be seen on older maps. The canal crosses

172-455: A goddess of fate : as Atrox Fortuna , she claimed the young lives of the princeps Augustus ' grandsons Gaius and Lucius , prospective heirs to the Empire. (In antiquity she was also known as Automatia .) Fortuna's father was said to be Jupiter and like him, she could also be bountiful ( Copia ). As Annonaria she protected grain supplies. June 11 was consecrated to her: on June 24 she

215-511: A small altar; Macdonald says it's only about 20 by 10 inches. He regarded it as notable for showing that Italians and Britons were comrades in the Roman army. An altar to an unknown goddess was found while digging the canal. It is hard to read anything more than four letters. A few coins and the remains of a Roman tuba were also recovered and well as a pair of small shoes suggesting there were children onsite. The National Scottish Museums also list

258-569: A temple at the Forum Boarium . Here Fortuna was twinned with the cult of Mater Matuta (the goddesses shared a festival on 11 June), and the paired temples have been revealed in the excavation beside the church of Sant'Omobono : the cults are indeed archaic in date. Fortuna Primigenia of Praeneste was adopted by Romans at the end of 3rd century BC in an important cult of Fortuna Publica Populi Romani (the Official Good Luck of

301-481: Is a small historic village in North Lanarkshire , Scotland , directly adjacent to the border with Falkirk . It has long been associated with infrastructure , being adjacent to a bridged river , a Roman fort and roads, a nationwide canal , a Victorian railway viaduct, and a modern motorway . Castlecary is close to the town of Cumbernauld but like Dullatur and Luggiebank is not officially part of

344-424: Is an item that she is often depicted as holding. The corresponding Greek god Tyche is also regularly shown with a gubernaculum. There are abundant depictions of Fortuna holding the gubernaculum on coins, in paintings, on altars and statues or statuettes. Fortuna is depicted on around 1000 different Roman coins usually holding a gubernaculum. A sandstone statuette of Fortuna, the Roman god of luck, fate, fortune

387-623: Is found in a variety of domestic and personal contexts. During the early Empire, an amulet from the House of Menander in Pompeii links her to the Egyptian goddess Isis , as Isis-Fortuna. She is functionally related to the god Bonus Eventus , who is often represented as her counterpart: both appear on amulets and intaglio engraved gems across the Roman world. In the context of the early republican period account of Coriolanus , in around 488 BC

430-538: Is from 55 BC. In Seneca 's tragedy Agamemnon , a chorus addresses Fortuna in terms that would remain almost proverbial, and in a high heroic ranting mode that Renaissance writers would emulate: O Fortune, who dost bestow the throne's high boon with mocking hand, in dangerous and doubtful state thou settest the too exalted. Never have sceptres obtained calm peace or certain tenure; care on care weighs them down, and ever do fresh storms vex their souls. ... great kingdoms sink of their own weight, and Fortune gives way 'neath

473-508: Is likely too to have been large communities of civilians around the site. In 1769, workmen seeking materials for the Forth and Clyde Canal, found 8 apartments along with the remains of an L-shaped, hypocausted , bathhouse in the south-east section of the fort. Inside the walls other objects such as human bones, pottery shards and boars' tusks were discovered. Historically, the site was not handled with much respect to archaeology as even gunpowder

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516-608: Is she good, who without discernment comes to both the good and to the bad?...It profits one nothing to worship her if she is truly fortune ... let the bad worship her...this supposed deity". In the 6th century, the Consolation of Philosophy , by statesman and philosopher Boethius , written while he faced execution, reflected the Christian theology of casus , that the apparently random and often ruinous turns of Fortune's Wheel are in fact both inevitable and providential, that even

559-448: Is typical of Roman representations: in a letter from exile he reflects ruefully on the "goddess who admits by her unsteady wheel her own fickleness; she always has its apex beneath her swaying foot." Fortuna did not disappear from the popular imagination with the ascendancy of Christianity. Saint Augustine took a stand against her continuing presence, in the City of God : "How, therefore,

602-480: The Antonine Wall passes through the village. Around 80 AD, a Roman camp was built at Castlecary. It may have been during governor Agricola 's fourth campaign season. Most Roman forts along the wall held garrisons of around 500 men. Larger forts like Castlecary and Birrens had a nominal cohort of 1000 men but probably sheltered women and children as well although the troops were not allowed to marry. There

645-650: The Roman senate dedicated a temple to Fortuna on account of the services of the matrons of Rome in saving the city from destruction. Evidence of Fortuna worship has been found as far north as Castlecary , Scotland and an altar and statue can now be viewed at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow . The earliest reference to the Wheel of Fortune , emblematic of the endless changes in life between prosperity and disaster,

688-627: The 15th century. The ubiquitous image of the Wheel of Fortune found throughout the Middle Ages and beyond was a direct legacy of the second book of Boethius's Consolation . The Wheel appears in many renditions from tiny miniatures in manuscripts to huge stained glass windows in cathedrals, such as at Amiens . Lady Fortune is usually represented as larger than life to underscore her importance. The wheel characteristically has four shelves, or stages of life, with four human figures, usually labeled on

731-553: The 1980s. The two companies were over the road from each other. Stein's brickworks in Allandale opened in 1899 and provided local employment for many years. The site is now derelict and awaiting redevelopment. Allandale village was built for the Castlecary brickworkers and John Stein's business grew to be the 2nd largest fireclay brick manufacturer in the world. Some early footage of the 1932 Castlecary gala day survives shot by

774-740: The A80 opened, the road went under a single arch. Along with the adjacent Forth and Clyde Canal and the Bonny Water , the viaduct acts as a physical representation of Castlecary's status as an isogloss , as it is around here that there is a distinct change from the West Central Scots accent spoken around Cumbernauld (many of the town's residents having strong links to Glasgow ) to the East Central Scots spoken in nearby Bonnybridge and Denny . Around 15 miles (24 km) to

817-433: The Middle Ages. In Le Roman de la Rose , Fortune frustrates the hopes of a lover who has been helped by a personified character "Reason". In Dante's Inferno (vii.67-96), Virgil explains the nature of Fortune, both a devil and a ministering angel, subservient to God. Boccaccio 's De Casibus Virorum Illustrium ("The Fortunes of Famous Men"), used by John Lydgate to compose his Fall of Princes , tells of many where

860-590: The Red Burn on an aqueduct, close to the Bonny Water just outside Castlecary. Just west of Castlecary, at Garnhall, two Roman temporary camps were discovered. A round enclosure and a possible watchtower were also found although these are not visible today. At Tollpark, remains one of the longest continuous stretches of the Wall. It is found between the forts at Castlecary and Westerwood . A kissing gate behind

903-658: The Roman People ) on the Quirinalis outside the Porta Collina . No temple at Rome, however, rivalled the magnificence of the Praenestine sanctuary. Fortuna's identity as personification of chance events was closely tied to virtus (strength of character). Public officials who lacked virtues invited ill-fortune on themselves and Rome: Sallust uses the infamous Catiline as illustration – "Truly, when in

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946-620: The Roman god of luck, fate, fortune (and even, in Fortuna Redux , safe-return) was found at Castlecary in 1771. Fortuna is depicted on around 1000 different Roman coins and looking at them leaves little doubt that it's Fortuna and not Mercury that is depicted. A Roman altar to Mercury by the Sixth Legion was found at Castlecary. George MacDonald calls it no. 36 in the 2nd edition of his book The Roman Wall in Scotland . It's

989-451: The Stein family. Other 19th century employers include a quarry and a sawmill. One suggested use of the former brickworks has been the construction of a new "park and ride" railway station, which was to be called Allandale . It had been previously suggested that the station be called Castlecary, but representations were made to the scheme's sponsors not to call it this given the existence of

1032-470: The burden of herself. Sails swollen with favouring breezes fear blasts too strongly theirs; the tower which rears its head to the very clouds is beaten by rainy Auster . ... Whatever Fortune has raised on high, she lifts but to bring low. Modest estate has longer life; then happy he whoe'er, content with the common lot, with safe breeze hugs the shore, and, fearing to trust his skiff to the wider sea, with unambitious oar keeps close to land. Ovid 's description

1075-461: The following names: ansa, the handle; clavus, the shaft; pinna, the blade. The famous ship Tessarakonteres or "Forty" is said to have had four rudders. In the Bible, Paul's ship, which was shipwrecked on Malta, had its rudders (plural) cut loose. Various gods such as Tritons and Venus have been shown with a gubernaculum. It is most associated with Fortuna since, along with the cornucopia , it

1118-627: The hotel provides access to this section of the wall. Some antiquarians posited that Castlecary was Ptolemy's Coria Damniorum although such assertions lack evidence. The Damnonii or Damnii themselves are only mentioned by Ptolemy. There were two fireclay brickworks in Castlecary: Castlecary Fireclay Company Limited, known as Weir's Castlecary, established during the late 19th century by Alexander Weir, which closed in 1968; and Stein's Castlecary Works established by John G Stein which continued until

1161-399: The left regnabo (I shall reign), on the top regno (I reign) and is usually crowned, descending on the right regnavi (I have reigned) and the lowly figure on the bottom is marked sum sine regno (I have no kingdom). Medieval representations of Fortune emphasize her duality and instability, such as two faces side by side like Janus ; one face smiling the other frowning; half the face white

1204-489: The most coincidental events are part of God's hidden plan which one should not resist or try to change. Fortuna, then, was a servant of God, and events, individual decisions, the influence of the stars were all merely vehicles of Divine Will. In succeeding generations Boethius' Consolation was required reading for scholars and students. Fortune crept back into popular acceptance, with a new iconographic trait, "two-faced Fortune", Fortuna bifrons ; such depictions continue into

1247-477: The other black; she may be blindfolded but without scales, blind to justice. She was associated with the cornucopia , ship's rudder, the ball and the wheel. The cornucopia is where plenty flows from, the Helmsman's rudder steers fate, the globe symbolizes chance (who gets good or bad luck), and the wheel symbolizes that luck, good or bad, never lasts. Fortune would have many influences in cultural works throughout

1290-481: The other half being of their own will. Machiavelli reminds the reader that Fortune is a woman, that she favours a strong, ambitious hand, and that she favours the more aggressive and bold young man than a timid elder. Monteverdi's opera L'incoronazione di Poppea features Fortuna, contrasted with the goddess Virtue. Even Shakespeare was no stranger to Lady Fortune: When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes I all alone beweep my outcast state... Ignatius J Reilly,

1333-665: The place of work, idleness, in place of the spirit of measure and equity , caprice and pride invade, fortune is changed just as with morality". An oracle at the Temple of Fortuna Primigena in Praeneste used a form of divination in which a small boy picked out one of various futures that were written on oak rods. Cults to Fortuna in her many forms are attested throughout the Roman world. Dedications have been found to Fortuna Dubia (doubtful fortune), Fortuna Brevis (fickle or wayward fortune) and Fortuna Mala (bad fortune). Fortuna

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1376-523: The protagonist in the famous John Kennedy Toole novel A Confederacy of Dunces , identifies Fortuna as the agent of change in his life. A verbose, preposterous medievalist, Ignatius is of the mindset that he does not belong in the world and that his numerous failings are the work of some higher power. He continually refers to Fortuna as having spun him downwards on her wheel of luck, as in "Oh, Fortuna, you degenerate wanton!" The Wheel of Fortune also has concerns with occultism and Satanism . In astrology

1419-502: The south-east, Harthill is another location alongside a motorway perceived to denote a shift between dialects as well as local authorities . Castlecary Primary School shut sometime between 1973 and 1976. Extracts from a 2nd world war log book from the school survive and are available. A new play park for children opened in June 2018. Castle Cary Castle , on the opposite side of the M80,

1462-478: The term Pars Fortuna represents a mathematical point in the zodiac derived by the longitudinal positions of the Sun , Moon and Ascendant (Rising sign) in the birth chart of an individual. It represents an especially beneficial point in the horoscopic chart. In Arabic astrology , this and similar points are called Arabian Parts . Al-Biruni (973 – 1048), an 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and scholar, who

1505-474: The town. Around 1725, the barony of Castlecary, with a population of just seventeen families, was disjoined from the parish of Falkirk , and annexed to Cumbernauld quoad sacra . Castlecary is also near Allandale which, though in the Falkirk council area , was built for Castlecary fireclay workers. Castlecary, like many other settlements in the area, is steeped in the Roman history of Scotland. The route of

1548-606: The turn of Fortune's wheel brought those most high to disaster, and Boccaccio essay De remedii dell'una e dell'altra Fortuna , depends upon Boethius for the double nature of Fortuna. Fortune makes her appearance in Carmina Burana (see image). The Christianized Lady Fortune is not autonomous: illustrations for Boccaccio's Remedii show Fortuna enthroned in a triumphal car with reins that lead to heaven. Fortuna also appears in chapter 25 of Machiavelli's The Prince , in which he says Fortune only rules one half of men's fate,

1591-515: The village from much of its history. A major employer in the area is CMS Windows which is based in Castlecary and employs over 250 people nationally. Castlecary commonly lends its name to a viaduct which crosses the M80, although its official name is the "Castlecary, Red Burn, Railway Viaduct" or Red Burn Viaduct. The landmark, known by many as the "Castlecary Arches", was built for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, which opened in 1842. Before

1634-464: The village on 30 August 2008. The Castlecary Rail Crash of 9 September 1968 is also commemorated there. There is little beyond housing in the village today. The Castlecary House Hotel is a well-known business in the village and was up for sale in 2016. The hotel is in a central location, sited to the west of the M80 motorway and south of the canal. The fort and the castle are east of the M80 which bisects

1677-498: Was attributed to the Etruscan Servius Tullius, while the second is known to have been built in 293 BC as the fulfilment of a Roman promise made during later Etruscan wars . The date of dedication of her temples was 24 June, or Midsummer's Day, when celebrants from Rome annually floated to the temples downstream from the city. After undisclosed rituals they then rowed back, garlanded and inebriated. Also Fortuna had

1720-604: Was found at Castlecary and can now be found at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow , Scotland . In mythology the rudder, which the goddess can steer, represents control of the changeable fortunes of life. Plato used the metaphor of turning the Ship of State with a rudder. In the Biblical book of James, the author compares the tongue with a ship's rudder which, though physically small, makes great boasts. Castlecary Castlecary ( / ˌ k ɑː s ə l ˈ k ɛər i / )

1763-592: Was given cult at the festival of Fors Fortuna . Fortuna's name seems to derive from Vortumna (she who revolves the year). Roman writers disagreed whether her cult was introduced to Rome by Servius Tullius or Ancus Marcius . The two earliest temples mentioned in Roman Calendars were outside the city, on the right bank of the Tiber (in Italian Trastevere ). The first temple dedicated to Fortuna

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1806-529: Was the greatest proponent of this system of prediction, listed a total of 97 Arabic Parts, which were widely used for astrological consultations. Gubernaculum (classical) A gubernaculum in classical references describes a ship's rudder or steering oar. The English word government is related to the word. The Old English word governail and the Scots word gouernaill are both derived from it. The ancient rudder's different parts were distinguished by

1849-478: Was used at the fort to improve land for agriculture. It was, however, excavated sympathetically in 1902. Artefacts, found at Castlecary, such as the altar to the Roman god Fortuna can now be viewed at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. Eleven inscribed stoneworks have been recovered from the Castlecary fort. Nine of these were altars; six bear the names of Roman military units. A sandstone statuette of Fortuna,

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